Dow, Nasdaq Leap Back to Close Out February

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 53 points to close at 12,952.07 Wednesday while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 shed 20 points and 6.50 points, respectively, in the final trading day of the month.

Despite Wednesday’s losses, all the major indexes are off to a strong start so far in 2012.

Stocks initially rallied on news that the GDP grew at a 3% annual rate, logging its strongest improvement since the second quarter of 2010, according to the Commerce Department. Economists had expected GDP to be unchanged at a 2.8% rate. The economy expanded at a 1.8% pace in the third quarter.

Also, the index of Midwest business activity gained in February to 64.0, hitting its highest level since last April, according to the Chicago ISM. Most economists were expected a reading of 61.5, compared with 60.2 in January.

Here are some more details from Wednesday’s trading session:

Dow Jones Industrial Average:

February: DJIA, up 319.16 points, or 2.53%

Up five consecutive months.

Up 2,038.69 points, or 18.68%, over the five-month period.

Up three consecutive Februarys.

Today: DJIA, down 53.05 points, or 0.41%

Down three of the past four trading days.

Largest one-day points and percentage decline since February 15, 2012.

Lowest closing value since February 22, 2012.

An intraday high of 13055.75 occurred at 10:01:14 today, representing an increase of 50.63 points, or 0.39%.

An intraday low of 12929.66 occurred at 11:30:09 today, representing a decrease of 75.46 points, or 0.58%.

Nine of the 30 component stocks rose, 21 fell.

Today's top five contributors to The Dow's movement and their point contribution: KO (7.64), UTX (3.03), HD (2.57), WMT (1.14), PG (0.98).